A legend like Charley Parkhurst is hard to come by — but Calamity Jane was certainly legendary in her own right. There has been plenty of speculation and unsubstantiated rumors about Martha Jane Canary — some of it straight from her own account. The city of Deadwood recognizes her as quite a storyteller, but historians agree that some of Canary’s exploits and accomplishments are indeed based on pure, undisputed facts. Below are some true stories about Calamity Jane that you may be surprised to find out:

1. Martha Jane Canary (or Cannary) was born to Robert and Charlotte Cannary, the oldest of six siblings, in Princeton, Missouri. Her mother died of pneumonia during a wagon-train move to Virginia City, Montana — and her father died soon after moving the family to Salt Lake City, Utah. Martha Jane, now in charge of her brothers and sisters, packed up the children on the Union Pacific Railroad and settled in Piedmont, Wyoming.

2. Martha Jane was not an educated girl. She was illiterate and her knowledge was mostly based on survival skills. During her time traveling with the caravan from Missouri to Montana, she was often in the company of the party hunters, from whom she learned how to ride horses, shoot, and hunt for herself.

Stagecoach Rules

Charley Parkhurst began driving stagecoaches for the Birch Stagecoach Company upon her arrival in Sacramento in 1849. By 1850, the Birch Company merged with Wells Fargo to create the Wells Fargo & Company Overland Stage, and Charley was put in charge of a brand new Concord Stagecoach, longer runs and more treacherous routes than ever.

Along with more responsibilities, came the following stipulations for a pleasant ride aboard the new Wells Fargo coaches that all drivers were expected to provide to the passengers:

Wells Fargo Stagecoach Rules of the Road

Adherence to the Following Rules will Insure a Pleasant Trip for All

Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink, share the bottle. To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and un-neighborly.

If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forgo smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of the same is repugnant to the Gentle Sex. Chewing tobacco is permitted, but spit with the wind, not against it.

Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.

12 Renowned Women of the Wild West

Perhaps no other time in America’s history is as steeped in myth, legend, and adventure as the pioneering age of the “Wild West.” Outlaws, lawmen, cowboys, American Indians, miners, ranchers, and more than a few “ladies of ill repute” emerged in this era, from 1865 to 190­0.

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Any female settler in the West was a heroine in her own right, but listed here are a few of the more famous (and infamous) women of this intriguing period.